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O-DAY’S 

STORIES OF 

YESTERDAY 

WELL TOLD TALES FROM 
MODERN AUTHORS 












The Fairy Who Rings the Blue Bells 


(From Story “How Daisy Chains Came”) 























































TO-DAY’S 
STORIES OF 
YESTERDAY 

WELL-TOLD TALES FROMMODERN AUTHORS 



EDITED AND PICTURED BY 

FRANCES KERR COOK 


'14 JUST RIGHT BOOK ” 
ALBERT ’WHITMAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO, U&A, 






















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TO-DAY’S STORIES OF YESTERDAY 


Copyright 1925, by Albert Whitman & Compai 
Chicago, U. S. A. 



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IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT 


For the kind permission granted by the first publishers of the 
stories to be included in this book of “ Today's Stories of 
Yesterday” we wish to extend our thanks to each one as here¬ 
with listed: 

To: Youths’ Home Companion {Childrens Page) for 


story of . 


“HOW THE TULIPS CAME TO 
HAVE BRIGHT COLORS” 


To: Milton Bradley Company 

Book of: “From Friendly Tales,” by 
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, for story of. 


HOW DAISY CHAINS CAMP 


JIT also herewith wish to thank the David C. Cook Company, 
Gladys Cleone Carpenter, Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, Dorothy Arno 
Baldwin, and Nelia Gardner for their kindly co-operation in the 
formation of “To-day’s Stories of Yesterday,” 


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A JUST RIGHT BOOK 


Published in the U. S. A. 


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CONTENTS 

Page 

How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors. 9 

Adapted from an old Legend of Devon 
By Frances Kerr Cook 

Sugar Moon or the Spoiled Sugar. 19 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 

Jovotte and the Jolly Goat Boys. 25 

By Nelia Gardner White 

Flow Daisy Chains Came. 33 

By Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 

How a Fairy Breeze Helped. 41 

By Nelia Gardner White 

A Different Cinderella. 47 

B\ t Dorothy Arno Baldwin 

5 





























CONTENTS—(Cont’d) 


The Missing Fanchette. 5 2 

By Dorothy Arno Baldwin 

When Everybody Played.. 59 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 

The Black-Toothed Prince. 65 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 

Johnny Pick-A-Bean. 7 ° 

By Dorothy Arno Baldwin 

The Earl-Of-Eating. 77 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 

The Castle of Frowns. 83 

By Dorothy Arno Baldwin 

The Fairy Riddle. 90 

By Nelia Gardner White 

The Parade in the City of Somewhere. 97 

By Dorothy Arno Baldwin 

Gretta’s Riches. 103 

By Dorothy Arno Baldwin 

The Prince Weary’s Galoshes. no 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 

The Selfish Prince. 118 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 

Golden Butterfly. 123 

By Gladys Cleone Carpenter 


6 














FOREWORD 


“TODAY’S STORIES OF YESTERDAY” is a col¬ 
lection of new stories, written by modern authors, but 
placed in the romantic setting of yesterday. 

The aim. has been to select stories full of interest, 
humor, and charm; stories which shall be so entertain¬ 
ing in themselves that through their appeal to the imagi¬ 
nation and emotions of the child, they will lead him into 
a larger world, develop his ideals for the highest form 
of living; inspire a love for those universal virtues of 
kindliness, honesty, loyalty, per server ance, and thought¬ 
fulness for others. 

There has been an avoidance of the “too-good” and 
moralizing type of story, as well as the tale full of shivery 
terrors—a type which flourished some years ago, and 
which is still too prevalent in some modern collections 
of classic tales. 

The stories are of today in their ideals and sane out¬ 
look upon life. They are of yesterday in their setting. 
They are stories of children and of fairies of long ago or 
of Indian lads and maidens of early times but their 
problems and their pleasures were surprisingly like our 
own of today. The everyday incidents, joys, sorroivs, 
and dilemmas common to the life of every child assume 
something of the glamour of knightly days when hap¬ 
pening in an environment of little Princes and Princesses 
in flowing robes, or of red-skinned children of a 
primeval race. 


7 


The choice of tales has not been restricted to the work 
of any one author, but some of the best stories of several 
modern writers for children have been selected. In this 
way a certain variety of theme and treatment has been 
secured, while the unity of the collection has been pre¬ 
served by adherence to the legendary setting. 

Frances Kerr Cook 



8 











HOW THE TULIPS CAME TO 
HAVE BRIGHT COLORS 

(Adapted From An Old Legend of Devon) 


‘: r 
XX 
XX 
v: 
XX 

XX 

XX 

XX 

Xa 

Xa 




There was once a family of Pixies who made 
their home in a wood near the cottage of a kind 
little old lady. There were ever so many wee baby 
Pixies, so very very small that their mother had 
to be most careful where she put them to sleep at 
night. If a big wind came up they might all be 
blown away; or if it rained they might drown. 
She looked everywhere trying to find the right 
kind of a cradle. She tried all the different wild 
flowers that were in bloom in the wood, but it 
was so early in the spring that there were not 
many flowers out, and those that were had very 


9 


10 


How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors 


small petals, or very weak stems, so that the baby 
Pixies fell out and were hurt. 

Now the kind little old lady that lived near by 
had some plain brown tulips in her garden. Long 
ago all tulips used to be a dull brown color. There 
were no beautiful big bright colored ones then. 

One evening the mother Pixie said to the Father 
Pixie, ‘Tm going to try the brown tulips for 
cradles tonight. The petals are so close together 
and the stems are so straight and strong that I 
don’t believe the babies will fall out.” 

“I should think that tulips would be just the 
thing,” agreed the Father Pixie, “and the little old 
lady is so kind she would not harm our babies.” 

That night the baby Pixies were put into the 
brown tulip blossoms, and the winds swayed the 
tulips back and forth on their straight sturdy 
stems, and very soon the babies were all sound 
asleep. The petals of the tulips closed round so 
snug that not a single baby Pixie fell out of its 
cradle all night, and although it rained a little, the 
water drained right off and did no harm at all. 










The Baby Pixies fell out and were hurt. 


11 


V 






















12 


How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors 


The Father and Mother Pixie were so pleased that 
they decided to use the tulip cradles every night. 

Not long after that the little old lady happened 
to go out into her garden one evening with her lan¬ 
tern to see whether she had closed the gate for the 
night. And there along the path she discovered 
those wee Pixie babies sound asleep in her tulips! 

“Where did all these cunning little tiny wee 
babies come from?” she exclaimed, but she spoke 
very softly so as not to wake them up. She went 
round looking at each little tulip cradle and was 
so delighted that she determined to watch over 
the tulips in her garden more carefully than 
before. 

Every day she tended them diligently, and she 
very soon noticed that every time she watered the 
tulips, or dug about them, the next day a beau¬ 
tiful new color appeared on their petals, for the 
Pixies came and painted it on in the night to 
reward her for her care. 

She did not let a night pass without taking her 
lantern and going out to look at the little Pixies 





13 















14 How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors 


asleep in their cradles, and as they grew very fast, 
she began to worry' for fear they would out-grow 
their cradles. So she watered and cared for the 
tulips more often than before, but the tulips grew 
as well as the Pixies, so that before long the little 
old lady had the largest and brightest colored 
tulips that grew anywhere in the country. And 
her tulips kept their petals and stayed in bloom 
longer than any others; indeed the petals did not 
drop until all the Pixie babies were quite grown 
up and able to sleep safely anywhere in the woods. 

Every year more tulips appeared until finally 
there were enough cradles for all the little Pixie 
families in the whole woods. And the Pixies 
watched over the little old lady and over her gar¬ 
den, so that every spring her tulips increased in 
beauty, and she had happiness and good fortune 
as long as she lived. 

But after her death a hard money-loving man . 
came to live in the cottage. He cared nothing for 
the beautiful tulips that she had looked after so 1 
tenderly. He dug up all the bulbs and carried 
them to the back of his land and threw them out. 




How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors 


15 


And he planted parsley and carrots instead. For 
he thought he could sell these at the market and 
make more money. “And of what possible use 
are these good-for-nothing flowers?” exclaimed 
he! 

This happened just at spring time, too, when all 
the tulips were just coming into bloom, and the 
Pixies had no tulip cradles for their Pixie babies 
all that season. 

All the Pixies were very sorry that the man did 
not like flowers and they decided that they would 
punish this greedy man that loved money so much 
more than he loved beautiful flowers. 

So every night they came and danced on his 
parsley and carrots. They danced till the leaves 
were all shredded to bits. That is why the leaves 
of parsley and carrots are all fringed and ragged 
even to this day. 

Not a thing would grow in that man’s garden no 
matter how hard he worked or how often he 
planted more vegetables. 




16 


How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors 


But it chanced that when he threw out the 
tulip bulbs they fell all about the grave where 
the little old lady lay buried. The Pixies coming 
out at night saw the bulbs lying about on the 
ground and they planted them lovingly all over 
and around the grave. And every night when 
they came out to dance on ••the parsley ^nd car¬ 
rots, they stopped to care for the tulips and soften 
the ground about them. 

The next spring the tulips came forth in 
great masses of beautiful bloom to honor the grave 
of the kind little old lady. The gorgeous colors in 
violets and yellows and orange and crimson blazed 
forth in such glory that people came from miles 
around to see the wonderful flowers. 

And these people who loved flowers, helped to 
take care of them, and when the land became too 
crowded for the bulbs to do well, they took them 
up and divided them, planting what was left over, 
in their own gardens. And that is how the tulips 
came to be preserved for us. And that is why we 









4nd every night ivhen they came out to dance 
































































































































































18 


How the Tulips Came to Have Bright Colors 


have such large beautiful bright colored tulips 
today, instead of dull brown ones. 










SUGAR MOON 

Or, The Spoiled Sugar. 


o «=s 

It was the Sugar-making Moon, or month, 
and the little Indian children like many other 
children liked maple sugar. 

For several days Brave-father had been busy 
making troughs by hollowing out logs with his 
stone ax. When a fine spring-like morning came, 
he went about through a part of the forest tapping 
the maple trees. When he found one that pleased 
him he cut a gash in it with his ax. Then he fitted 
a wooden wedge into the gash so that the sap 
would run into one of the troughs which he put 
under the tree. When he had finished he went 
home to the wigwam. 


19 



20 


SUGAR MOON 


“I go to sell furs,” he said to the squaw-mother. 
"You and the papooses make sugar.” 

The next day Squaw-mother called out a queer 
Indian name which meant, “Do-well,” and a lit¬ 
tle Indian girl came from the wigwam. Then she 
called another name which meant something like 
“Good-enough” and a tall Indian lad who was 
Do-well’s brother came out. 

“Take these two buckets and go to the sugar 
trees,” said Squaw-mother to the children. “When 
a trough is full of sap empty it into a bucket, and 
carry it to where there are two large pots. Each 
one of you fill one pot with sap and I will come and 
build a fire under them to boil the sap into maple 
sugar.” 

When the boy and girl came to the first trough, 
Do-well asked Good-enough to help her empty 
the sap into the bucket she was carrying. 

“Wait,” said Good-enough, “the trough will 
hold more sap.” And the careless boy wandered 
away. 




SUGAR MOON 


2i 


Do-well had to dip out the sap the best she could 
alone and carry as much as she could to one of the 
big pots which was near by. 

After she had worked for a time and then she 
came to where Good-enough was lying fast asleep 
with the sweet sap overflowing from the trough 
near him. 

Do-well shook him. “Wake up, Good-enough,” 
she said. “Look at your troughs.” 

The Indian boy jumped up and went to work. 
Just then the squaw-mother came to the forest to 
build the fires. Do-well had a big pot nearly full 
of the sweet sap and Good-enough had none. 

The Indian mother lighted a fire under Do¬ 
well’s pot and told her that when the sap cooked 
down and commenced to thicken she must stir 
it so it would not burn. 

When Good-enough brought sap to the pot near 
Do-well’s he poured in some leaves and tiny sticks 
that the wind had blown into the sap. 

“Oh, you must take out the leaves and sticks,” 
said Do-Well. 

“It’s good enough,” the Indian boy grunted, 
and started a fire under the pot. 




22 


SUGAR MOON 


When the boiling sap thickened and should have 
been stirred, the lad said, “Good enough,” and 
wandered away. 

It grew late and the moon was in the sky when 
he came back. His syrup was scorching. 

“Oh—it is burnt!” cried Do-well. 

“It’s good enough,” replied her brother, as he j 
poked at the fire with his stick. 

When the syrup had cooked down until it was ] 

so thick j 
that i t j 
hardened ; 
when; 
they drop¬ 
ped a lit- j 
tie on the 
snow, the 
squaw- 
mothe r 
helped to 
pour it in- 
t o some 
dishes to 
harden 
















SUGAR MOON 


23 


into sugar. And then what fun to eat warm 
apple sugar! 

For many days the children and Squaw-mother 
worked making maple sugar. Each evening they 
took home to the wigwam the sugar they had 
made. 

One day when they had boiled the last syrup 
into sugar and were going home, they heard voices 
in the wigwam. Suddenly a strange man came out 
of the wigwam and lo! he was eating one of their 
cakes of maple sugar. Was he an Indian enemy 
who had come to steal their maple sugar? What 
would they do? 

Just then from out the wigwam came Brave- 
father. Oh, how glad they were to see him! He 
and the stranger sat down and smoked the pipe 
of peace, so they knew the stranger was not an 
enemy. 

When Brave-father saw them he said, “This is 
Fair-play, the trader. He would like to buy some 
of our sugar.” 

Squaw-mother and the children brought out all 
the sugar they had made. Some of it was a nice 
clean brown color and very good. Some of it was 
a very dark color and tasted bitter. 




24 


SUGAR MOON 


“I will give you a warm blanket, some red beads, 
and this sharp hunting knife for the good sugar,” 
said the trader. 

“We must keep the good sugar, there is only as 
much as we need for ourselves,” said Brave-father. 

The trader did not want the dark sugar, so he 
went away. 

Good-enough felt much ashamed, for, of course, 
the dark bitter sugar was the sugar he had spoiled 
by boiling sticks and leaves in the sap, and leaving 
it to burn. 

The next year Good-enough was careful to make 
his sugar very good. And when the trader came, 
he took all the sugar that they did not need, and 
in return gave them things that Indian parents 
and children like very much to own. 




JAVOTTE AND THE 
JOLLY GOAT BOYS 


Up on the hillside, there were four flocks of 
goats. Jan took care of one flock and Anton one 
flock and Mark one flock. Jan was short and 
fat and he laughed all the time. Anton was tall 
and strong and could carry more than any of them. 
Mark was small and thin, but he could run fast 
as any hare and he took very good care of his 
goats and never let them stray from his sight. The 
other flock was cared for by a little girl—Javotte 
was her name. Anton and Mark and Jan found 
many an hour when the goats were quiet and safe, 
when they could play together. Mark had a lit¬ 
tle flute that he could play upon and often the 


25 


26 JAVOTTE AND THE JOLLY GOAT BOYS 


others sang while he played. Folks called them 
“The Three Jolly Goat Boys.” 

Anton and Jan and Mark did not ask Javotte 
to play with them. They did not like to play with 
girls. 

One day the boys sat upon the grass, playing 
at jackstraws. Not far away Javotte sat, watching 
her goats. 

“We ought to ask Javotte to play with us,” said 
Mark. 

“Girls have no skill at jackstraws! ” said Anton. 
“They like better to play with dolls.” 

“She could run no faster than a snail, should 
we want to play at ‘Goal Stick’!” added Jan. 
“She would cry if she should scratch herself on the 
thorns in the wood! Girls are always babies!” 

“And she knows none of our songs,” agreed 
Mark. “Then, too, she would always be asking us 
to help tend her goats. No—it’s better to play by 
ourselves as we’ve always done!” 





27 


Folks called them “The Three Jolly Goat Boys. 














































28 JAVOTTE AND THE JOLLY GOAT BOYS 


Javotte was lonely so she made friends with the 
little creeping beetles, the ants and with the birds 
of the forest. She twined flowers together for a 
wreath to put upon her sunny hair. She gathered 
queer plants and herbs from the wood which she 
carried home to the goatwoman. The goatwoman 
was very wise and she knew what this herb was 
for and what that herb was for and some of the 
queer plants she put in the ground for Javotte till 
they grew beautiful bright blossoms. 

“If only they would ask me to play, I could tell 
them many secrets of the wood,” thought Javotte. 
She knew where to find the spicy checkerberry 
and the first arbutus in the spring and the home 
of the saucy bluejay who stole the crumbs after 
the boys had finished their lunch. She knew, too, 
where an oven bird lived and she knew that Anton 
or Mark or Jan would give much to know that. 
And once she’d seen some birds having a feast 
upon the scarlet bunch-berries in the midst of the 
wood. 

“I would show them that I know how to play 
jackstraws, too!” she said to herself. “Many a 
time have I won from my brother.” 







She gathered a queer plant and some herbs from the wood. 


29 


























30 JAVOTTE AND THE JOLLY GOAT BOYS 


But the boys went on playing there on the 
grassy hillside and did not even glance her way. 

One day Javotte saw Mark jump to his feet 
and run down the slope to the place where his 
goats were grazing. She saw him kneel down on 
the grass and then she noticed that one of the lit¬ 
tle goats was on the ground. Mark called to An¬ 
ton and Jan and they ran quickly to join him. 
Mark’s face was greatly troubled. 

“I can’t help it if they never do play with me,” 
Javotte said. “I must go and see what the trouble 
is. Perhaps one of the little kids is sick! ” 

She looked at her own flock to be sure they were 
all safe and then hurried to the place where the 
three boys bent over the little black and white 
kid. 

“What’s the matter?” asked Javotte. 

'The kid is sick,” said Mark, “and my master 
is away. I know not what to do!” 

“Oh!” cried Javotte, “’tis like the sickness of 
the three goats of the goatwoman last spring. Get 
some sticks quickly and build a fire. Have you 
a kettle?” 





JAVOTTE AND THE JOLLY GOAT BOYS 31 


“There is the one we carry water in,” said An¬ 
ton. 

“That will do,” said Javotte. “Fetch it quickly, 
full of water. I will be back by the time you get 
the fire made.” 

She sped away on small, swift feet to the wood. 
Before the fire was built and the water brought, 
she was back again. In her hands she carried 
some crooked brown roots and some green leaves, 
fine as lacework. She washed the roots and broke 
them into the pail of water. She put in also the 
green leaves. Then she set the pail on a big stone 
in the midst of the fire. After a few minutes it 
began to boil merrily and they could smell the 
strong ? smarty odor of the herbs cooking. Javotte 
let it boil for quite a few minutes, then cooled it 
and let the kid drink as much as he would. 

For half an hour the kid seemed to be just the 
same. He did not stir from his place on the 
grass. Then, suddenly, he got to his feet and 
trotted off to join the rest of the flock. Javotte 
turned to go to her flock. It was growing late 
and she must take them home. 




32 JAVOTTE AND THE JOLLY GOAT BOYS 


“We’re all going to bring grapes and have a 
feast at the noon hour tomorrow,” Mark called 
after her. “Could you come too?” 

Javotte’s face grew bright. 

“Why, yes! ” she said. “And I will bring some 
little sweet cheese cakes for the feast, too!” 

Ever after that Javotte played with the Three 
Jolly Goat Boys and never once again did they 
laugh at her because she was a girl! 









HOW DAISY CHAINS CAME 


i.X 




XX 

;,Y 

xx 

XX 




Once upon a time, in the land of Never-VVas- 
But-Might-Have-Been, the folk who lived there, 
all fairies by the way, woke up one summer morn¬ 
ing to a surprise. A field that had been only green 
before was covered with the prettiest flowers, 
whose heads looked like fairy children with yellow 
hair and frilled white bonnets. These flowers cov¬ 
ered the green field. They were large enough to 
serve for fairy sunshades. They were bright 
enough to be fairy gold. Their white petals might 
have come from the snowy soap-suds and the tiny 
ironing board of the fairy laundress who hung 
her washing on the morning cobwebs. There was 
only one thing that might have been changed 
about these flowers. They grew in just one 

*Grateful acknowledgment is made to Milton Bradley and Company for 
permission to reprint “How Daisy Chains Came,” by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, 
first published in “Friendly Tales.” 


33 


34 


HOW DAISY CHAINS CAME 


meadow, and to be properly shared and loved all 
the fairies should be able to see and touch them. 
And the fairies were busy and they lived far apart. 

The fairy laundress, gathering her wee frocks 
and lace skirts from the webs of the meadow grass, 
stopped and looked at these pretty new flowers. 
She sighed. “How the fairy who churns the butter 
for the buttercups would love some of these flow¬ 
ers!” she said, “but I can’t go any farther than 
her dairy with a wreath of them or my clothes 
will be too dry to iron smoothly.” 

With this, the fairy laundress wove a beautiful 
wreath of the new yellow and white flowers and 
hurried to a far field where the fairy who put but¬ 
ter in the buttercups was skimming her cream 
pans. 

“Just the color of new butter!” said the fairy. 
“Thank you so much! And how the fairy who 
puts pennies in the shepherds’ purses would en¬ 
joy having a wreath of them too,” but before she 
had finished speaking the fairy laundress was half 





“How the Fairy who churns butter for the butter¬ 
cups would love some of these flowers 


35 












36 


HOW DAISY CHAINS CAME 


way home again. Every day was wash-day with 
her, on account of the fairy children wearing only 
white and lace. 

“I might go over to her bank, I suppose, with 
a wreath,” went on the buttercup fairy, “but no 
farther, on account of my churning and the chil¬ 
dren needing so many buttercups this summer.” 
So she wove another beautiful wreath of the yel¬ 
low and white flowers from hers and hurried to 
the mossy bank where the fairy who fills the 
shepherds’ purses, those tiny, green, three-cor¬ 
nered purses that grow in the summer time, was 
at her work of making bright pennies. 

“How pretty! Just the color of my pennies!” 
said this fairy as she saw the long wreath. “I do 
thank you so much, and I wish I could show it to 
the fairy who rings the bluebells. I heard her just 
this morning tuning them for some midsummer 
chimes. I may be able to get over to her hill be¬ 
fore night.” 

So the fairy who made pennies had a busy time 
filling purses and then later she divided her wreath 
and made still a third one, which she carried 




HOW DAISY CHAINS CAME 


37 



through the secret lanes of grass and moss until she 
came to the bluebell hill and the fairy who could 
make them chime. 

The bluebell fairy was delighted with her 
wreath. “I will make up a song about them,” she 
told the fairy of the shepherds’ purses, “and when 
I am able to play it on my chime of bluebells I 
must share these new yellow and white flowers 
with the fairy who makes cheeses. She is kept so 
busy that she hardly ever is able to get away from 
her field to see the sights.” 

It was late in the afternoon when the bluebell 
fairy was able to divide her wreath and make still 







HOW DAISY CHAINS CAME 


another one which she took in great haste to the 
fairy of the little green cheeses, which are so good 
to eat in the summer time. “She delivers cheeses 
at sunset,” said the bluebell fairy to herself. “I 
mustn’t be late.” 

As it happened, she was just in time. The cheese 
fairy, her small grass basket on her arm, was just 
starting out, but she nearly dropped all the hard 
little green cheeses in delight at the wreath. 

“How pretty!” she exclaimed, “but much too 
beautiful to be left here among my curds. I shall 
just take along a few of these yellow and white 
flowers to one of my customers who will be so 
pleased with a wreath. You see she washes and 
irons the fairy children’s dresses, and I take her a 
cheese every midsummer night for her supper.” 

Of course the bluebell fairy did not know that 
the first wreath had started from the kind hands 
of the fairy wash-lady. Neither did the fairy who 
made the cheeses. The whole thing would have 
been a joke when it was found out if something 
strange had not happened. 




HOW DAISY CHAINS CAME 


39 


The cheese fairy carried the slim wreath of the 
new yellow and white flowers to the busy, tired 
fairy wash-lady, and a wonderful thing came to 
pass. It wasn’t a wreath. It was a chain of 
flowers. As each fairy had put part of her wreath 
into another one for some other fairy, all the 
wreaths had joined themselves into one long chain. 
It made a circle from that fairy wash-lady all the 
way back to her again—a nice, long daisy chain. 

So the first daisy chain was made in the land of 
Never-Was-But-Might-Have-Been and the chil¬ 
dren, through love of one another, have been 
winding daisy chains ever since then. 











40 
























“Father, may I go traveling with you today?” 
asked tiny Fairy Breeze of her strong father, 
Giant Wind, one day. “Perhaps I could help 
you! ” 

Giant Wind laughed his big, rough laugh. “Oh, 
ho! You help me! You’re too tiny to help, but 
you may come along with me,” he said. “I am 
so busy I can’t wait for you today, though, so 
you’ll have to try to keep up with me.” 

They started off. First they came to a big wind¬ 
mill beside a river. Its big arms were still. The 
miller stood in the doorway. 

“I wish the mill would go!” sighed the miller. 
“How can I grind my wheat until the wind 
blows?” 


41 


42 


HOW FAIRY BREEZE HELPED 



Just then Giant Wind gave a mighty blow, and 
the mill began to turn. The miller hurried inside 
to grind his wheat. 

“Oh, I wish I could do that! ” whispered Fairy 
Breeze. 

“Oh, ho! ” laughed the giant, “you couldn’t even 
make the fans move.” 

Then they raced out to sea and sent a ship mer¬ 
rily on its way. The ship had been waiting and 
waiting for a wind to come and fill its sails. Fairy 
Breeze and her father hurried back to the land. 
The giant blew round a little house near the shore 
till the windows rattled and the doors banged. 

“Oh, I can go no farther!” called the little 
breeze. “You go so fast, Father!” 









HOW FAIRY BREEZE HELPED 


43 


Giant Wind left the Fairy Breeze beside the 
little house and told her to catch up with him if 
she could. Inside the little house lay a little girl, 
hot and sick with a fever. When Giant Wind had 
roared past, she had said, “Oh, shut the window 
quickly, it is cold!” After the wind had passed 
by, Fairy Breeze tapped gently on the window till 
the nurse let her in. She cooled the girl’s hot 
face until she said, “I am getting better.” 

The fairy tried hard to 
catch up with her father, but 
she could not. First she 
came to a garden where the 
giant had passed by. The 
flowers were bent almost to 
the ground, and some of the 
petals were broken. Fairy 
Breeze kissed them all and 
whispered to them and played 
with them until they began 
to stand up straight and smile 
once more. 

Then Fairy Breeze came to a meadow where 
she found a boy crying. Giant Wind had blown so 









44 HOW FAIRY BREEZE HELPED 


hard that he had broken the boy’s kite string, and 
he had to run a long, long way before he found the 
kite again. The little breeze dried the tears away 
and gave a little tug at the kite. The boy mended 
the string and Fairy Breeze carried the kite up, 
up, up, until it seemed as though it touched the 
clouds. 

The boy laughed happily as he ran along after 
his kite. 



Fairy Breeze carried the kite up, up, up, until it seemed as though 
it touched the clouds 





HOW FAIRY BREEZE HELPED 


45 


As Fairy Breeze journeyed 
on she saw a line of clothes that 
her father had blown so hard 
that they were all torn. Then 
she saw a flag that was all 
twisted round a tall pole. 

A little girl was trying to 
straighten its folds. Fairy 
Breeze blew gently at the flag, 
and at last it was straight once 
more. Some pupils came from 
the school house near by and 
stood round the flag and saluted it. 

Just then Giant Wind came along, picked up 
Fairy Breeze and carried her away to their home 
in the West. 

“Oh, but this has been a busy day!” Giant 
Wind said. “I’ve started a mill, sent a ship out to 
sea, dried some clothes, dried a hundred puddles 
in the streets, played tricks on some boys, a flag 
and some flowers and sung my song to the people 
of a thousand towns and cities. Oh, this has been 





46 HOW FAIRY BREEZE HELPED 


a busy day! I wish you were big enough to really 
help me! ” 

Wee Fairy Breeze answered, “Oh, I wish so, 
too, Father!” But she smiled happily to herself, 
for she remembered how the sick girl had smiled, 
how the flowers had straightened, how the boy 
with the kite had stopped crying, and how the red, 
white, and blue flag had waved to the pupils. 

“Maybe I am a little bit of good in the world, 
after all,” she whispered to herself. 






yj. 

%x 

Xx 

yx 


A DIFFERENT 


CINDERELLA || 


In the Play House in Make-Believe Town there 
lived only children; so, of course, the children had 
to do all the work. But as there were a great many 
of them, and each one had a special task to do 
every day, no one had to work very hard. 

Polly put the kettle on, and Molly stirred the 
broth, and Dolly dipped it into bowls for dinner. 
After dinner Sue washed the bowls, and Prue 
washed the spoons, and in no time their work was 
done, and they could play. 

It was Caroline’s task to shovel the ashes from 
the hearth so that the fire would burn brightly. 
Just for fun they called her Cinderella. 

47 




48 


A DIFFERENT CINDERELLA 


Cinderella didn’t like to shovel up the ashes one 
bit. They smutted her hands, and got into her 
throat and made her cough, and anyway, she’d 
much rather play. So one day she didn’t do her 
work. 

“It won’t make any difference if I leave the 
ashes just one day,” she thought. “I’ll do it all 
tomorrow.” 

It didn’t make much difference, except that 
when tomorrow came, there were twice as many 
ashes to be shovelled. 

“Oh, dear! ” sighed Cinderella, “I can’t stop 
to take care of those today. We’re going on a long 
walk into the woods. There won’t be many more 
tomorrow.” 

There weren’t many more the next day, but 
when Cinderella picked up the shovel, she thought 
she was altogether too tired to do any work. “I 
shall feel more rested tomorrow,” she thought, 
“and then I’ll shovel up that whole heap of ashes 
and sweep the hearth nice and clean.” 

But, the next day that pile of ashes looked very 
large, and the next day it was still larger, and the 




A DIFFERENT CINDERELLA 


49 


next day it 
was very 
large in¬ 
deed. It 
was about 
that time 
that Tim, 
who had 
lighted the 
fire, began 
to have 
trouble 
making it 

burn. Jim, who brought in the wood, helped him, 
and after much puffing and blowing, they got the 
fire started. But it didn’t burn well even then, 
and every day after that it burned worse than 
ever. 



But the next day the pile of ashes looked very large. 


“Cinderella must shovel the ashes, or we can’t 
have a fire,” said the boys and girls. 

But Cinderella didn’t. So they went on having 
more and more trouble with the fire, until at last 
it was just as everybody had said, the fire wouldn’t 
burn at all. 







50 


A DIFFERENT CINDERELLA 


“You’ll all have to help me shovel the ashes,” 
Cinderella told them. “There is such a pile of 
them that I can’t possibly take care of them 
alone.” 

“No, we’re not going to help you,” they an¬ 
swered. “We have our work to do, and that’s 
yours. You must do it yourself.” 

Cinderella looked at the hearth. She wished 
she’d taken care of it the day before, and the day 
before that, and every day, just as she ought to 
have done, but she couldn’t make up her mind to 
begin now. 

“Let’s build a fire on the big flat stone in the 
woodshed,” suggested Jill. “Cinderella must stay 
here, and when she has the ashes all shovelled 


away, she can call us.” 



So they all went outside to stay 
in the shed, and left Cinderella 
inside the house. 


For a long time she sat and 
looked at the ashes, until she be¬ 
gan to be sleepy. “I’ll take a 
little nap,” she thought, “and 


then I really will shovel them 

tor a long, long 


time she sat and looked 
at the ashes. 


away. 




A DIFFERENT CINDERELLA 


51 


She lay down by the hearth and fell sound 
asleep. While she slept, a great wind began to 
blow. It whisked down the chimney, and blew the 
ashes out of the hearth and all over Cinderella, un¬ 
til nothing could be seen of her at all. It looked 
like just a heap of ashes on the floor. 

That was what Cinderella dreamed that it was, 
a great mountain of ashes, and that she was under 
it and couldn’t get out. She tried to crawl out, 
but the pile kept getting bigger and bigger, and 
after a while it covered up the whole world. 

It was all so very dreadful that she cried out 
in her sleep. The boys and girls thought she was 
calling them back to the house, so they all came 
running. Just as they got to the door, Cinderella 
woke up. She sprang to her feet, and ashes flew 
in every direction. 

“Where’s the broom?” she cried. 

Jack-be-nimble found it for her, and then how 
those ashes did fly. Cinderella swept, and swept 
until she swept them all out of the house. 

“There!” she cried. “Those dreadful ashes 
are gone! Now we can have a fire. And I’ll 
never, never, never let another day go by without 
doing my work.” 






If THE MISSING FANCHETTE If 

XX XX 


It was the finest kind of a day for a picnic and 
that was fortunate because Fanchette, the Lord 
Mayor’s daughter, had invited every boy and girl 
in Happy Town to a picnic at Wildwood Lake. By 
ten o’clock on that sunshiny morning, everyone 
had reached the lake; everyone except the Lord 
Mayor’s daughter, herself. 

“Where is Fanchette?” wondered Eloise, when 
half-past ten came and she had not appeared. 
“Let’s play some games and perhaps she’ll come.” 

They began a game of hide-and-seek, but it 
wasn’t a very lively game for all the time they were 
watching for Fanchette. 

“Why doesn’t she come?” demanded Jacques, 
when they heard the deep voice of the village 
clock striking eleven. “Is this surely the day for 
the picnic?” 


52 



THE MISSING FANCHETTE 


53 


“Of course! We couldn’t all have made a mis¬ 
take,” Marie reminded him. “Fanchette is often 
late. She’ll probably come soon.” 

Half-past eleven came, but Fanchette did not. 

“Something may have happened to keep her at 
home,” suggested Yvonne. 

“Then someone must go and see what is the 
matter,” declared Henri. “I will go, myself.” 

So Henri hurried away to the grand mansion 
of the Lord Mayor, and the others sat down under 
the trees to wait. A long, long time they waited, 
but the boy did not come back and still there was 
no Fanchette. 

“Boys are so stupid!” 
scoffed Yvonne. “I will 
go to find Fanchette and 
bring her back quickly.” 

Yvonne ran off, but 
when she had disap¬ 
peared, not so much as a 
ribbon fluttered down 
the lane, although others 
watched and watched. 









54 


THE MISSING FANCHETTE 


“I will soon clear up the mystery,” promised 
Jacques, and he, too, started for the grand 
mansion. 

The clock struck twelve but not one of them 
returned, so Eloise went after Jacques. Then 
Pierre went after Eloise, and Marie went after 
Pierre, and Phillippe went after Marie. 

At last no one was left of all the picnickers 
except Lisette. She peered anxiously down the 
lane for five whole minutes, but as she saw no one, 
she, in her turn, started for the Lord Mayor’s. 

She soon reached the big gate, which stood open. 
No one was in sight, so she went in and knocked 
on the door of the mansion. There was much 
bustle and stir and hurry and scurry inside, and 
she had to knock several times before a worried- 
looking footman opened the door. 

“If you please,” inquired Lisette, “is Fan- 
chette at home?” 

“She is,” replied the footman, solemnly. “You 
will find her upstairs.” 

“Oh, is she ill?” asked Lisette. 

“No, indeed! Quite as usual,” answered the 
footman. 





“Have you seen Henri, and Yvonne, and 
Jacques—?” began Lisette. 

“And Eloise and Pierre and Marie and Phil- 
lippe,” continued the footman. “They are all 
here. If you will step in, perhaps you can help, 
too.” 

The great hall which she entered was crowded 
with servants with their arms full of everything 
you can think of, from toy dogs and elephants and 
balls to hats and dresses and books and papers. 
Jacques was coming down the grand staircase, 
looking very uncomfortable with his arms full of 
dolls, and there were Phillippe and Pierre and the 
other boys, each with as large a load as he could 
hold. The girls were upstairs, and Lisette hur¬ 
ried up. Fanchette was coming out of the door 













56 


THE MISSING FANCHETTE 


/ 


of her room with 
her arms full of 
papers and pic¬ 
ture books. 

“What is the 
matter?” cried 
Lisette. “Are 
you moving?” 

“No! I’m 
hunting for my 
shoes,” replied 
Fanchette al¬ 
most in tears. 
“I’ve found one 
of them, and 
I’ve found my 
ribbon and my belt and my handkerchief and 
the other things I lost, but I just can’t find 
that other shoe.” 

“But what are you taking everything out of 
your room for?” asked Lisette. 

“It was Yvonne’s idea. You see, I—I hadn’t 
kept my things in very good order, and they got 
into such a heap that I couldn’t find anything I 


















THE MISSING FANCHETTE 


57 


wanted. So she suggested that I take things out 
one by one until I found what I was looking for. 
Oh, if I ever find that other shoe, I’ll put it ex¬ 
actly where it belongs after this, and everything 
else as well!” 

Fanchette hurried back into her room and in 
another moment she cried: 

‘‘Here it is, under this heap of cut-out papers! 
Goody! Now we can go to the picnic! ” 

A murmer of rejoicing ran along the hall and 
down the stairs. 

“She’s found it! She’s found it! Fanchette 
has found her shoe and she can go to the picnic! ” 

“Thank you, every¬ 
body, so much!” cried 
Fanchette. “I never 
should have got to the 
picnic if you hadn’t 
helped me.” 

“Let us help you put 
things away, now,” of¬ 
fered Lisette. 

“No. Just leave every¬ 
thing in my room, and 
when I get home I’ll put L iZt h eT “Are 





58 


THE MISSING FANCHETTE 


them to rights Then perhaps I’ll remember 
better to keep them in order,” said Fanchette. 

When the Lord Mayor heard that everything 
had been found, he was so delighted that he or¬ 
dered his coach and four, all the boys and girls 
climbed in, and the coachman drove them back 
to the lake for the picnic. 




WHEN EVERYBODY PLAYED 8 







Long ago when kings and queens dressed every 
day in party clothes a young boy was made king. 

The boy was far too young to be a ruler, but 
the king had died; so his only son had to rule. 

Now the minute the king’s crown was put on the 
boy’s head, he declared, “I’m going to make some 
new laws.” 

“You must be very careful,” warned the wise 
man. “The people of this kingdom are quite 
happy.” 

“Silence,” commanded the boy. 

“Now that I am king, I will not get up in the 
morning until I get ready. I will not study any 
more, and I will not eat anything but ice cream 
and candy if I don’t wish to.” 

The wiseman shook his head. He knew it was 
a mistake, but he said nothing. 

“Now,” continued the king, “the law I am go¬ 
ing to make is, ‘Everybody in the kingdom is to 


59 


60 


WHEN EVERYBODY PLAYED 


play. No one has to work. Any one found work¬ 
ing will be sent to prison.’ Isn’t that fine! ” 

“But, your majesty,” answered the wiseman, 
“it is impossible for every one to play all the time.” 

“Stuff and nonsense,” declared the king. “No¬ 
body wants to work. You wait and see. The law 
shall go into effect at twelve o’clock tomorrow, 
high noon.” 

Now it chanced that the king was the first to 
forget his new law. The next morning he ordered 
the coachman to take him for a ride in the golden 
coach. He rode along through lovely woods and 
passed green meadows. Finally he became hun¬ 
gry. So he stopped at a tavern. He ordered ten 
dishes of ice cream, six glasses of lemonade, and 
four boxes of candy. “Well,” said the boy to him¬ 
self, “it is great to be king. I can eat just what 
I want.” 

After a time, the innkeeper brought forth a tray 
with the food upon it. But lo! just as the tray 
was within a foot of the table, a great bell rang. 
It was the warning that it was high noon. The 
tavern keeper tossed away the tray at once, letting 
all its contents fall to the floor. 





He ordered ten dishes of ice cream, six glasses of lemonade, and 
four boxes of candy. 


61 






















































62 


WHEN EVERYBODY PLAYED 


“Stupid!” screamed the king. “How dare you 
do so?” 

“Sir,” replied the innkeeper, “have you not 
heard of our new and great king? He has made 
a law that no one may work. All must play. That 
bell was the warning that we must obey. I could 
not put the food on the table. That would have 
been work.” 

“Stupid!” screamed the boy. “I am the king. 
Do as I say. I want something to eat.” 

“You can’t fool me like that,” said the inn¬ 
keeper. “You the king! Ha, ha!” 

The boy was angry, but he could not make the 
tavern-keeper believe he was the king. So he 
rushed out to command the coachman to compel 
the innkeeper to be sensible. But lo! the coach¬ 
man was gone. He looked about and saw a man 
leaning against a tree in a careless fashion. 
“Where is my coachman?” the king demanded of 
him. 

“I don’t know,” said the man. “I suppose he 
went away to play. It’s work to sit and watch 
horses and drive coaches. It’s against the law to 
work.” 




WHEN EVERYBODY PLAYED 


63 



purse filled with gold. “Here, I will give you this 
if you will drive me home.” 

“What’s that, money?” asked the man. “That’s 
no good. If nobody works, there is nothing to 
buy. What good is money?” 

The king begged, but it did no good; so he 
started to walk home. It was many miles back 
to the castle, and the king was not used to walk¬ 
ing. At last, very tired and hungry, he reached 
the palace grounds. But there was no guard to 
open the gate. Although he was very tired, he had 
















64 


WHEN EVERYBODY PLAYED 


to climb the wall. And when he reached the pal¬ 
ace, lo! it had been robbed of all its lovely riches. 
Every one had been away to play, and robbers 
from another land had entered the palace. 

The poor king was very hungry, but it did no 
good to call for servants. In the royal garden he 
found the wiseman fishing in the royal fountain. 
He told him how tired and hungry he was, but the 
wiseman said none of the servants dared to go 
against the king’s law. 

So the king begged him to help make a new 
law. Together they drafted a law whereby every 
one must work as well as play. No one dared to 
work without play, and no one dared play without 
work. 

Then the servants came back to the palace, and 
the king ordered his supper. His order was not as 
foolish as it had been in the tavern. He knew 
that ice cream after bread and meat would taste 
far better than eating ice cream until he grew tired 
of it. It was like play being more fun after work. 

And when the people learned of the new law, the 
king became known as a wise ruler, because he had 
found that work and play must go together. 





I? THE BLACK TOOTHED PRINCE ?? 

|| *:*| 


9 


Prince Rolland was lost. He could not remem¬ 
ber clearly how he had become separated from the 
king. There had been a tournament where many 
games had been played until it became dark. Al¬ 
though Prince Rolland had a lantern and searched 
everywhere among the crowds he could not find 
his father. For when the tournament broke up, 
the king, believing the prince to be with the other 
princes, left in his royal carriage. The princes, be¬ 
lieving Prince Rolland to be with the king, had 
gone away in their carriage. So the prince was 
left alone. 


65 


66 


THE BLACK-TOOTHED PRINCE 


Prince Rol- 
land hurried on 
a n d o n. He 
was tired and 
hungry. Finally 
he came to the 
gates of the great 
city, for the 
tournament field 
was, of course, 
outside the city 
walls. 

There were guards at the gate. “Halt!” they 
commanded the prince. “Who are you?” 

“Why, I am Prince Rolland,” replied the boy. 

“If you are the prince why do you come on 
foot? The royal carriage has long ago entered the 
gates,” said the guards. 

“But I was lost. I am the prince, I tell you.” 

“See,” said one of the guards to the other, “he 
shows his teeth when he talks. They are black.” 

“Show us your teeth,” commanded the other 
guard. 



Prince Rolland hurried on and ( 


















THE BLACK-TOOTHED PRINCE 


67 


Prince Rolland was angry. But he drew back 
his lips so that his teeth would show. 

“He is not the prince of this country,” said the 
guard. “All the people in this country have white 
teeth. There are many heathen countries where 
people think it is nice to blacken their teeth. They 
say that dogs can have white teeth so they stain 
their own teeth black. This boy has the robes of a 
prince. He must be a heathen prince.” 

“I am not,” the prince insisted angrily. “I am 
Prince Rolland.” 

“Then why do you have black teeth?” the 
guard asked. 

The prince hung his head; he was ashamed. “I 
ate blueberry pie for dinner and did not brush my 
teeth after the meal.” 

One guard turned to the other guard and whis¬ 
pered, “The king had commanded that all people 
from those countries where it is the custom to 
blacken their teeth, be brought before him.” Then 
he turned to the boy, “Come,” he said. And tak¬ 
ing the prince roughly by the shoulder, the guard 
hurried him inside the city walls. 

The prince was very glad to get home, although 




68 


THE BLACK-TOOTHED PRINCE 


he did not like to be handled so roughly. But 
when he reached the palace he was not allowed to 
go to his own room, for the guard would not be¬ 
lieve that he was the prince. He had to sleep in 
a small cold room. 

The next morning the guard took Prince Rol- 
land to the great throne room where the king was 
making laws and judging people. 

“Who is next?” asked the king. 

The guard stepped forward. “Your majesty,” 
he said, “yesternight I found a boy dressed in 
princely robes, but belonging to the tribes who 
blacken their teeth, walking near the city walls. 
I thought he might be dangerous to our kingdom. 
He might be a spy.” 

“Bring him here,” thundered the king. 

The boy was brought forward. 

“Why!” exclaimed the king, “that is Prince 
Rolland! ” 

The guard was very much surprised. “Your 
majesty,” he said kneeling, “I am sorry. I thought 
he belonged to the black-teeth tribes.” 

“Show me your teeth,” said the king. “What! ” 




THE BLACK-TOOTHED PRINCE 


69 


he exclaimed when he beheld the prince’s black 
teeth, “have you become a heathen?” 

“Your majesty,” stammered the boy, “I forgot 
to brush my teeth after I ate blueberry pie.” 

“Well,” smiled the king. “I don’t believe you 
will forget to brush your teeth again, for doing so 
caused you much trouble. You might not have 
been recognized, and then you would have been 
sent to live among the black-teeth tribes.” 

After that Prince Rolland brushed his teeth 
very carefully after each meal, and they glistened 
so white when he talked or smiled that there was 
no doubt he was the prince. 




JOHNNY PICK A BEAN 


In the Play House in Make-Believe Town lived 
Johnny and Donny and Lon. 

“Boys,” Polly-who-put-the-kettle-on said to 
them one morning, “will you please go to the gar¬ 
den and get some vegetables for dinner?” 

“All right! ” agreed the three boys. 

“I’ll pick the beans, and Donny can gather 
some corn, and Lon can dig the potatoes,” ar¬ 
ranged Johnny. 

Now, to tell the truth, Johnny didn’t like to 
work very well, so he had chosen the easiest task 
for himself. The ripe pods were hanging in great 
clusters from the bean vines, and all he need do 


70 


JOHNNY-PICK-A-BEAN 


71 


would be to seize them by the handful and pull 
them off. The corn was just beginning to ripen, 
and he knew that Donny would have to hunt 
through the big corn patch to find enough plump 
ears for their dinner, and, of course, digging po¬ 
tatoes is not the easy kind of work. 

As soon as they reached the garden, Lon hur¬ 
ried to the potatoe patch and began opening the 
hills to find the big early potatoes, and Donny 
disappeared at once behind the corn stalks with 
his basket. Johnny stopped by the first bean 
pole and had just reached up to pull off a handful 
of pods when he heard voices in the next field. 

“I wonder who that is?” said Johnny to him¬ 
self, letting his hand slip from the bean pods. 

He stood on tiptoe, but couldn’t see from where 
he was, so he went to the wall and climbed up on 
a rock to look over. It was Jack and Jill going up 
the hill with an empty pail. 

“That would be ever so much pleasanter than 
picking beans,” thought Johnny. “I wish it were 
my work to help bring the water.” 

Johnny watched Jack and Jill out of sight, then 
he wandered back to the beans and picked one 




72 


JOHNNY-PICK-A-BEAN 


pod. As he reached for another, he saw some 
blackbirds flying overhead and stopped to count 
them to make sure that there were four and 
twenty. He picked two more pods of beans and 
turned around to see what Lon was doing; then 
he sat down to rest a minute and watch the queer 
shapes the clouds made. 

By this time, Donny had found enough plump 
ears of corn for all the boys and girls in the Play 
House, and just as he came out of the corn patch, 
Lon heaped his measure with potatoes and de¬ 
clared that he had enough. 

“How did they ever get through so quickly?” 
wondered Johnny staring after them. 

He began to twist a loose bean vine around the 
pole while he thought it over, and he was still 
twisting it when he heard Polly’s voice calling: 

“Johnny! Bring the beans quickly. It’s time 
to cook them.” 

Johnny glanced at his almost empty basket, 
snatched a handful of pods, half of which were 
not ripe, from the vines, and ran to the house. 

“Couldn’t you get any more?” exclaimed Polly. 

“You didn’t give me time,” mumbled Johnny. 




77 





He saw some blackbirds flying overhead and stopped to count them. 

73 


























Then he sat down to rest a minute and watch the queer shapes the clouds made. 


“Well, it’s too late to pick more now, or they 
won’t get done for dinner,” declared Polly. “I’ll 
have to cook what there are.” 

How all the boys and girls laughed when they 
sat down to dinner and found that there was 
exactly one bean apiece in the dish! And how 
they did tease Johnny! It wasn’t the first time 
that Johnny had been laughed at, for he was al¬ 
ways the last one to finish his work; but after 
this, whenever any of the boys or girls saw him, 
they would say: 

“Please, Johnny, pick a bean for me!” 

So they nick-named him Johnny-Pick-a-Bean. 

For a time this amused Johnny as much as it 







JOHNNY-PICK-A-BEAN 


75 


did the others, but after a while he grew tired 
of the joke. He knew that the boys and girls 
didn’t think that he was very smart because he 
was always behindhand in everything. Sometimes 
one of them said: 

“Oh, don’t ask Johnny-Pick-a-Bean to do that 
or it will never be done.” 

And another would say, when something Johnny 
had done went wrong: 

“Well, what can you expect of Johnny-Pick-a- 
Bean?” 

“I’ll show them that I can do something!” 
declared Johnny at last, and one day when Polly 
asked the boys to gather some vegetables for 
dinner, Johnny hunted up the bushel basket and 
took it to the garden. 

Everyone laughed at that, but Johnny marched 
straight to the bean poles and began picking beans 
into that basket as fast as he could pick. The 
blackbirds flew over to be baked in the king’s pie, 
and Jack and Jill chattered and laughed as they 
went for water, but Johnny neither saw nor heard 
them. He was thinking so hard about beans and 




76 


JOHNNY-PICK-A-BEAN 


how fast he could 
pick them that he 
could see nothing 
but the crimson- 
streaked pods, and 
hear nothing but 
the plop! plop! 
plop! they made 
as they dropped 
into the basket. 

By the time the 
others had the 
vegetables they 
wanted, Johnny 
had a heaping bushel of beans. The Play House 
family invited everyone in Make-Believe Town to 
a bean supper, and they themselves lived on beans 
for a week afterwards. 

“We’ll never ask you to pick a bean again, 
Johnny,” declared the Play House family, rue¬ 
fully. " 

“I won’t pick so many again,” promised 
Johnny. “Anyway, I’ve learned how to work.” 



Johnny had a heaping bushel of beans. 











The young Earl-of-Eating could not be found 
anywhere in the great mansion. “I will look again 
in the dining room,” said the butler; “the Earl- 
of-Eating spends much time there.” At first the 
butler could see no little boy in the dining room; 
but there was no wonder, for the little Earl-of- 
Eating was seated behind a huge piece of water¬ 
melon. 

“The little boy, Know-how, is here to see you.” 
said the butler. 


78 


THE EARL-OF-EATING 


The Earl never stopped eating, never wiped his 
lips and said, “I will go to meet him”; instead, 
as was usual, he had taken so large a bite that 
he could scarcely speak. “Show him in,” said the 
boy, or that is what he thought he had said, but it 
didn’t sound a bit like that to the surprised butler. 

It was necessary that the servants all obey the 
little Earl-of-Eating. So it was not long until the 
butler opened the dining room door and threw the 
little boy visitor into the room. 

If there was anybody more surprised than the 
little boy who landed somewhere under the table, 
it was the Earl behind the watermelon. 

“How dare you treat my guest like that, when 
I told you to ‘Show him in’?” said the Earl. 

“I am sorry,” said the butler, “but you had 
your mouth so full that it sounded as though you 
said ‘Throw him in.’ ” 

Little Know-how picked himself up, brushed 
his clothes, and took the chair by the table that 
the butler placed for him. Next the butler 
brought him some melon. 




THE EARL-OF-EATING 


79 


Then the Earl, with his mouth full of melon, 
commanded the butler, “Sir, be gone!” 

The butler thought the little Earl had said 
“Sing a song!” so he began to sing. But as the 
butler could not sing very well, the little Earl-of- 
Eating began to laugh. His mouth was full, so 
his laughter soon turned into choking. 

Now, Know-how never so much as smiled, be¬ 
cause he knew that it is never nice to laugh be¬ 
cause somebody can’t sing well, nor to laugh when 
one’s mouth is full. 

When the Earl recovered from his choking, he 
tried another piece of melon. He stood it up 
straight on his plate and began to punch the seeds 
out with a fork. To the left of the room, to the 
right of the room, on the snow-white table cloth 
and under the table the big black seeds flew. And 
finally one hit little guest Know-how right in the 
eye. 

Little Earl-of-Eating felt very badly about this, 
for he hadn’t meant to do such a horrid thing. 
He had only been careless and rude. 

“I’m very sorry,” said the Earl. 




80 


THE EARL-OF-EATING 



“The butler thought the 
Earl said, “Pour some water 
on me.’ 


“You didn’t really hurt me,” said Know-how. 
“But, oh, dear, how your seeds fly, and what a 
dreadful noise you do make eating.” 

The Earl looked ashamed. The watery juice 
was dripping from his melon, for the Earl was 
holding the large slice of melon up to his mouth, 
and his face was daubed with juice from ear to 
ear. 

The Earl looked at Know-how, whose melon 
lay upon his plate. Know-how was putting small 
bites of melon into his mouth with his fork after 
having used the fork to carefully remove the seeds 
and cut the bites. His face was very clean and 








THE EARL-OF-EATING 


81 


so was the table cloth near his plate. “I’ll do it 
that way next time,” said the Earl to himself. 

Then the Earl, with his mouth full, said to the 
butler, “Pour some water for me.” But the butler 
thought the Earl said, “Pour some water on me.” 
So from a pitcher he poured water over the Earl’s 
head. 

“My, how quickly the Earl dropped that piece 
of melon he was holding, and how quickly he 
swallowed what was in his mouth, and in what 
a great big hurry he rose and shook the water 
from his hair. He was very angry with the but¬ 
ler, although in his heart he knew it was his own 
fault. 

The water must have been some kind of magic 
water, for never again was the Earl known to take 
so large a bite that he could not speak plainly. 
And when he went back to his piece of melon 
he removed the seeds correctly, and kept the juice 
off his face and the table cloth. 

“Well, I must be going,” said Know-how. “The 
melon was very nice. I came to ask you to the 




82 


THE EARL-OF-EATING 


prince's watermelon party. But when the butler 
threw me in, I didn’t dare to ask you, for fear 
you would treat the prince that way. Then I was 
afraid you would hit the prince in the eye with 
a melon seed, and splash the table cloth; but now 
you can come. Be sure to be there, because it 
will be a garden party right near the king’s water¬ 
melon patch, and will be great fun.” 

So, in due time, the Earl-of-Eating went to the 
party; and he behaved so nicely that every one 
said, “He acts just like Know-how.” 




THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 


XX 

XX 

aX 

XX 




It all began with Grimpy Grumps. Grimpy 
Grumps had never been known to smile. Instead, 
he was almost certain to be frowning whenever 
you looked at him. He wasn’t a pleasant person 
to live with at all. 

This was really too bad, for 
he lived in a beautiful castle, 
where he had everything a 
boy could possibly want. His 
father, who was a great lord, 
was always trying to think of 
some new thing which might 
please him, but Grimpy Grumps only frowned and 
pouted, and said cross words about everything. 

It is hard to keep pleasant and cheerful when 
there is a scowly person about, so it wasn’t long 
before everybody else in the castle was scowling, 



Grimpy Grumps had never 
been knoivn to smile. 


83 


84 


THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 


too. Often the boys and girls who lived nearby 
were invited to play with Grimpy Grumps. But 
no matter how cheerful they felt when they came, 
there was sure to be a quarrel before they left, 
so that they always went away scowling. No 
wonder the place was called the Castle of Frowns! 

One morning Grimpy Grumps awoke in a very 
bad humor. He grumbled all the time he was 
getting dressed, and when he went down to break¬ 
fast he slammed the door of his room hard! He 
thought that this would make him feel better, but 
it didn’t; so when he left the breakfast room he 
slammed that door, too. All the morning, where- 
ever he went through the castle, he slammed the 
doors. 

Nobody was surprised, for Grimpy Grumps 
often slammed doors, but they were surprised 
when they found that not a single door could be 
opened! They rattled the latches, they pushed 
and pulled, and tugged at the doors. Every one 
stuck fast, and they were too strong to be bat¬ 
tered down. 

The next day the doors still stuck, and the 
next day, and the next. To make matters worse, 




THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 


85 


Grimpy Grumps was 
crosser than ever. Every 
door that he hadn’t 
slammed the first day, he 
slammed the next, and as 
every door stuck, there was 
soon not a room in the 
castle that could be entered 
by the proper way; so 
there was nothing to do but 
to climb in and out of the 
windows, and how incon¬ 
venient that was! When 
dinner was served, the ser¬ 
vants had to climb out of 
the kitchen windows, 
march around the castle 
bearing the roast, the 
vegetables, and the pud¬ 
ding, and climb up a ladder 
to the dining-room win¬ 
dows. And when bedtime 
came, everybody had to 
climb up the ladder and 
crawl in at the bed-room 
windows. 






86 


THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 


At last the king’s wise men were sent for. When 
they had looked at the doors and at Grimpy 
Grumps, they knew at once what the trouble was. 

“No one but Grimpy Grumps can open these 
doors,” they said. “If he can learn to laugh, the 
doors that he has shut will open for him. Other¬ 
wise they will stay closed forever.” 

That sounded simple enough, but it wasn’t. 
Famous clowns and jokers, and all sorts of fun- 
makers were summoned to the castle to teach 
Grimpy Grumps to laugh. He wouldn’t even 
smile! It really seemed as if the doors would 
never be opened. 

Then, one sunshiny day, as Grimpy Grumps 
was wandering in the garden, he heard a strange 
sound. He listened; then he saw a girl looking 
through the gate. 

“Were you making that strange noise?” he 
asked. 

“Why, I was just laughing,” answered the 
stranger. 

“Why do you do that?” asked the boy. 

“Because I’m happy!” answered Merry Heart, 
for that was her name, smiling straight at his 




THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 


87 



Before he knew it he was laughing too. 


frown. “It’s such a sunshiny day, and this is 
such a beautijul place—” 

“A beautiful place!” echoed Grimpy Grumps. 
“Don’t you know that this is the Castle of 
Frowns?” 

“Oh, is it?” cried the stranger, clapping her 
hands gleefully. “I’m so glad! I did want to 
see it.” 

Then she began to laugh again in the merriest 
way. 

“What’s so funny?” asked Grimpy Grumps, 
trying to sound as cross as ever. 

“Oh, just think of having to climb to bed by 
a ladder! How funny that must be!” laughed 
Merry Heart. 





88 


THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 



At the unusual sound people popped their heads out of all the castle windows. 


“Why, it—it is funny!” exclaimed Grimpy 
Grumps, and before he knew it he was laughing, 
too. 

He was so surprised to hear himself laugh that 
he stopped right in the middle of it, but the girl 
didn’t stop, so Grimpy Grumps tried it again. 

At the unusual sound people popped their heads 
out of all the castle windows, and when they saw 
Grimpy Grumps and his new friend laughing they 
couldn’t believe their eyes. They expected that 
any minute he would stop and begin to frown 
again, but he didn’t. He was having such fun 
that he kept right on laughing, even when he’d 
forgotten what the joke was. 





THE CASTLE OF FROWNS 


89 


“Come in and see my toys,” begged Grimpy 
Grumps, when Merry Heart started to go. Taking 
her by the hand, he ran towards the big castle 
door. He had forgotten all about its being stuck. 
He lifted the latch and pushed, and the door 
opened at once! 

“Why, it opened!” exclaimed 
Grimpy Grumps. “I wonder if the 
others will.” 

Sure enough they did, as easily 
as if they’d never stuck. How glad 
everybody was to see those doors 
open again. After that the Castle 
of Frowns was the most cheerful place in all the 
kingdom. 



Grimpy Gumps 




THE FAIRY RIDDLE 




One summer day of each year a prince of King 
Richard’s kingdom wrote a riddle on a great tablet 
in the center of the city square. Whoever solved 
the riddle was given a cup of silver with golden 
handles. There were some very queer riddles, and 
sometimes no one in all the city could think them 
out. The rich and the wise men, the poor men 
and the boys and girls—every one tried. 

One year the prince rode into the city, stopped 
at the city square and wrote in great letters this 
riddle upon the tablet: 


90 


THE FAIRY RIDDLE 


91 


“A winged brown fairy in a white silk dress 
flew out of a green-brown house. What was the 
name of the fairy?” 

“Oh, ho!” said the wise men. “That sounds 
easy enough! We can find the answer to that in 
a week!” 

“Oh, ho!” laughed the rich men. “Such a tiny 
riddle! We can answer that in no time.” 

“Oh, ho!” cried the boys and girls. “A fairy 
riddle! That’s the kind we like the best of all. 
It will be easy to answer!” 

The wise men went home and began to study 
in their books. The rich men went about trying 
to buy the answer from someone who knew. The 
boys and girls puzzled about it from morning till 
night. They soon found that it wasn’t so easy as 
it looked. 

The wise men could find nothing about it in 
their great books. Soon they went to the great 
libraries and searched through shelf after shelf 
of learned volumes to find out the name of the 




92 


THE FAIRY RIDDLE 


fairy; but in no 
book could it be 
found. The boys 
and girls thought 
and thought, and 
they left their play 
to wonder about it. 
When there were 
any tasks that 
needed to be done, they made excuses and said 
that they were too busy to come because they were 
trying to solve the riddle. 

When John’s mother called him to carry in 
chips, he would say, “I can’t come just now. I’m 
thinking about the prince’s riddle.” 

And when Mara’s mother called her to watch 
the baby, she’d say, “Just wait a minute; we’re 
busy working on the riddle' ” 

Just outside the city lived a boy named Jon. 
He lived on a farm, and there was always a great 
deal of work to be done. Jon had to take the 
cows to pasture in the morning and bring them 
home at night. He helped to milk, and he always 
carried the pans of milk down cellar and put them 



In no book could it be found. 













They left their play to wonder about it. 



93 




































94 


THE FAIRY RIDDLE 


on the cool cellar floor. He carried in wood and 
often took pails of cold water to his father and 
the men working in the fields. He was always 
busy at something from daylight till dark. 

Jon had heard the prince’s riddle, but he was 
always so busy that he didn’t have much time to 
puzzle about it. If he ever did settle his mind 
to w 7 ork it out, there would always be something 
to do so that he’d have to give it up. In the eve¬ 
ning he was always too sleepy. 

“Anyway, I’m too stupid to ever find the answer 
to the riddle,” he said to himself. “Someone much 
wiser than I am will have to solve it.” 

One day Jon was coming home with the cows 
from the pasture. The leaves were just beginning 
to turn yellow. He saw a big red and yellow 
maple leaf come floating down, and he picked it 
up and stuck it in his hat so that he might show 
it to his sister when he got home. He saw a 
squirrel chasing another squirrel along the fence, 
and he laughed and said, “I’ll tell brother Francis 
how the squirrels play tag!” 




THE FAIRY RIDDLE 


95 


Just then he saw something else—something 
that almost made him forget the cows—something 
that made his eyes open wide with wonder and 
excitement. 

“It’s the prince’s riddle! It’s the prince’s rid¬ 
dle!” he shouted. 

The week after that the prince came to the city 
again. There was a great crowd waiting ’round 
the city square. The prince stood on a little plat¬ 
form, and he held the silver cup high in the air 
so that it glistened in the sunlight. 

“Oh, how beautiful!” the people cried. 

“What is the answer to the riddle?” asked the 
prince. 

“Is it a bird of any kind?” asked a wise man, 
coming up on the platform. 

“No,” answered the prince. 

One by one the people came up and gave their 
answers, but they did not even come near to 
guessing it right. 

At last Jon crept out of the crowd and up to 
the platform. He was dressed in his best, and his 
hair was smooth and his face rosy and clean. In 




96 


THE FAIRY RIDDLE 


one hand he held something carefully. He held 
it out to the prince. 

“Is this the answer?” he asked in a small voice. 

The prince took the thing into his own hand. 
He held it up so all the people could see. It was 
green-brown and small, like a cradle. One edge 
was opened, and as the prince held it up, out from 
the opening came something tiny, with wings, 
dressed in the softest white silk. Then another 
and another and another, till all the air was full 
of the soft-winged things. 

“Why, it’s the seeds of the milk-weed!” some 
one cried. 

“Yes,” replied the prince, “and that’s the 
answer to my riddle!” 

He put the beautiful cup into Jon’s arms and 
patted his head. Jon hurried out of the crowd and 
down the road toward home, so that he could show 
the cup to his mother and father and brother and 
sister. 

“And wasn’t it queer?” he said. “I didn’t need 
to search for the answer. It just came to me while 
I was doing my everyday work.” 





ax 

tv 

XX 

AX 

XX 

x* 


THE PARADE IN THE CITY OF 
SOMEWHERE 


9 


~o 

XX 

XX 

AX 

XX 

AX 

XX 

XX 

XX 


The trouble in the City of Somewhere began 
with a wrinkled-up nose—Leonora’s nose. If no 
one had seen her wrinkle it, it wouldn’t have 
mattered so much, but, unfortunately, she wrin¬ 
kled it at Guy; so, of course, he wrinkled his nose 
at her. 

At that moment Robin came running down the 
street, and he saw the two noses all out of kilter. 

“Whew! What faces!” he said. “I wonder if 
I can make as good a one.” 

Robin tried, and he succeeded so well that Guy 
thought he would better try again himself; and 
Leonora, not wanting to be left out, screwed her 
face into a tangle, too. 


97 


98 


The Parade in the City of Somewhere 



All the boys and girls in Somewhere 
were making up faces everytime they met 
each other. 


No one knows just 
how it came about, 
but by the next week 
all the boys and girls 
in Somewhere were 
making up faces 
every time they met 
each other, and a 
great many other 
times as well. All 
through the winter 
and spring they 
practiced to see who 
could make up the 
ugliest face. 


One day the Mayor called the inhabitants of 
the city to a meeting to make plans for celebrating 
the Fourth of July. The Mayor himself made a 
speech, and so did the Bishop, and the Superin¬ 
tendent of Schools and one or two other important 
officials. 


It was voted to have a wonderful parade in 
which every boy and girl in the city should march. 








The Parade in the City of Somewhere 


99 


The procession was to be headed by one of the 
girls dressed as Columbia, and every one in it was 
to carry a flag. A committee was appointed to 
train them to march properly, and a Judge from 
a far-away city was to choose the one who should 
represent Columbia. 

The first rehearsal was held the very next day, 
and everyone got there early. The Judge was 
already on the platform when the boys and girls 
filed into the hall to stand in line before him. He 
spoke a few pleasant words to them, reminding 
them what an honor it was to carry the American 
flag in a Fourth of July parade, and especially to 
take the part of Columbia, who represented 
America herself. After that, the Judge put on his 
spectacles and looked at the first girl in line, then 
at the second and the third and the fourth. The 
farther he looked down the line, the more sur¬ 
prised he appeared to be. 

“Dear me!” he exclaimed, when he had looked 
at every girl. “What has happened to twist the 
faces of these girls all out of shape? And the 
boys’ faces, too? Why—I don’t like to say it— 




100 


The Parade in the City of Somewhere 


but really they look more like little monkeys than 
they do like boys and girls.” 

The Chairman of the Committee came forward 
and put on his spectacles. 

“Why, so they do!” he agreed. “That is too 
bad! It would never do to have a parade of little 
monkeys to carry the flags on the Fourth of July, 
and there’s not a single one here that’s fit to repre¬ 
sent Columbia. We can’t have a parade, after all.” 

The Chairman looked very sad, and so did the 
Judge, and so did the boys and girls, and so did 
all the people in the city when they heard that 
there couldn’t be any Fourth of July parade. 

“I don’t believe I look so ugly,” pouted Leo¬ 
nora, as she hurried home. She ran straight to her 
mirror, and she was surprised when she saw her 
face in the glass. 

Her mouth was twisted into a pucker and her 
nose was all crinkly. One eyebrow pointed up 
and one pointed down, and her forehead was quite 
askew. She tried to smile, but her face was so 
much more used to screwing up that it was some 
time before she could manage to make a nice, even 
smile. At last she succeeded, and when she saw 




The Parade in the City of Somewhere 


101 


how much better it made 
idea popped into her head, 
house and hunted up the 
other boys and girls to 
tell them her plan. 

The next afternoon 
the Mayor was surprised 
to hear a knock on his 
door, and when it was 
opened a long line of 
boys and girls marched 
into the room. In an 
armchair by the Mayor’s 
desk sat the Judge from 
the far-away city. 

“What fine - looking 
feoys and girls!” he re¬ 
marked, after the Mayor 
had greeted them. “What 
a pity that they don’t 
belong in this city! ” 

“But we do!” cried 
Leonora. “We’re the 
very same ones that you 
saw yesterday.” 


her look, a wonderful 
She rushed out of the 






102 


The Parade in the City of Somewhere 



“fFe’re the very same ones you 
saw yesterday.” 


“Can it be possible?” ex¬ 
claimed the Judge. “Why, 
then we can have the pa¬ 
rade.” 

“Hurrah! ” cheered Guy, 
forgetting where he was. 
“Leonora ought to be Co¬ 
lumbia because she made 
us practice smiling until 
we got our faces smooth.” 

“I wrinkled my nose 
first,” confessed Leonora. 


“But now you’re leading the right way. I think 
you’re the very one to be Columbia,” declared the 
Judge. 

That parade was the best ever seen in the City 
of Somewhere. 




GRETA’S RICHES 




There were once two sisters, named Frieda and 
Greta, who were as unlike as two sisters can be. 
Whenever anyone wanted her help Greta would 
say: “What will you give me for it?” but Frieda 
was always watching for some way of helping 
people without being asked. 

Their parents tried everything they could think 
of to make Greta more unselfish, but nothing 
changed, her. At last, they sent for the Wise 
Woman, who lived at the edge of the forest. 

“Let the two girls spend the summer with me,” 
she suggested. “Perhaps we shall find a remedy.” 

The first morning after their arrival, the Wise 
Woman asked Greta to wash the dishes. 

“What will you give me if I do?” demanded 
Greta. 

“What do you want?” 


103 


104 


GRETA’S RICHES 


“I want money to buy beautiful clothes,” re¬ 
plied Greta. “The queen wishes a companion for 
the princess, and she may choose me.” 

“Very well. I will give you a penny whenever 
you wash the dishes,” promised the Wise Woman. 

In the meantime, Frieda had made her bed, 
swept up some ashes which had been spilled, and 
dusted the room. 

“How would you girls like to have gardens of 
your own?” suggested the Wise Woman, by 
and by. 

Frieda was delighted with the idea, but Greta 
asked: 

“What could I get out of it?” 

“You might sell your vegetables.” 

“Then I should like a garden,” decided Greta. 

The Wise Woman marked out a plot of ground 
for each girl, and the gardens were soon growing 
nicely. When the peas were ready to eat, Greta 
took all of hers to market, but Frieda saved out 
some of the best of hers for a woman who had no 
garden. 

“My daughter has been sick,” explained the 






























106 


GRETA’S RICHES 


woman as she thanked Frieda, “and she has been 
longing for some fresh green peas.” 

Frieda sang all the way home because she was 
so happy to think of the pleasure she had given, 
but Greta grumbled all the way home because she 
had received less than she expected for her peas. 

Often after that, Frieda carried peas or other 
vegetables to the sick girl and to others who 
needed them. And she had plenty of flowers to 
take too, for she had saved a little space on the 
edge of her plot, for a border of flowers. 

“You’re foolish. You won’t have any room left 
for vegetables,” warned Greta, “and you don’t 
get a thing for your flowers.” 

“I am getting something better than money for 
them,” Frieda replied, and she went, singing, out 
to her garden. 

There she saw a rabbit, peeping through the 
fence. He hopped away when he saw her, but 
she put some crispy lettuce and cabbage leaves 
where he had been. The next morning the leaves 
were gone and every night after that, Frieda put 
out more leaves for the rabbit. Gradually, he 




GRETA’S RICHES 


107 



There she saw a rabbit peeping through the fence. 

grew so tame that he would come for the leaves 
while Frieda was near, and at last he would eat 
from her hand. 

“I would not waste good vegetables on a 
rabbit!” sneered Greta. 

That summer there came a dreadful drought. 
The streams dried up, and only a small potful of 
water could be spared for the gardens. 

One day, when Frieda was sprinkling hers, 
a bird came and tried to drink the drops from the 
leaves. 





















108 


GRETA’S RICHES 


“Poor thirsty thing! You shall have all of this 
water,” promised Frieda. “My plants won’t need 
it if I loosen the earth around them.” 

So she kept a dishful of water out for the birds, 
and many came to drink and bathe, often singing 
sweetly to thank her for her kindness. 

Frieda was happy from morning till night. The 
wild creatures came to her, unafraid, and she had 
many boy and girl play-mates. No one came to 
play with Greta because she was always talking 
about her pennies and what they would buy, and 
the wild things hid from her. 

One day a woman in peasant’s rags stopped 
and begged for some vegetables as her garden 
had been killed by the drought. 

“Have you money to pay?” asked Greta. 

“Alas! a poor peasant has little,” she replied. 
“I have only this.” 

“A penny! That would pay for no more than 
a lettuce leaf,” scoffed Greta. 

Frieda had disappeared, but now she hurried 
back with a basket of vegetables. 




GRETA’S RICHES 


109 


“Take these,” she said, “they are not so very 
good, but it is all I have left in my garden except 
a single cabbage for my rabbit—but you’re wel¬ 
come to them if you can use them.” 

The woman thanked her and held out the coin. 

“Why, it’s gold! ” cried Frieda. 

“Yes, and so is your heart,” said the stranger. 

Her peasant’s rags slipped to the ground, and 
there stood the queen! 

“The wise woman has told me of you, and I 
should like to have you as a companion for the 
princess,” she said. 

For a moment Greta stood by, silent. Then 
she drew from her pocket the money she had saved 
and slipped it into Frieda’s hand, saying: 

“Take it and buy you a pretty dress. You must 
not go before the princess in this old one.” 

As she said it, she smiled and for the first time 
in her life she felt truly happy. 

“Now I know what has made my heart heavy,” 
she laughed. “It was the weight of the money in 
my pocket and selfishness in my thoughts.” 





The great oak door of the study-room flew open 
and a page said to Prince Weary and Princess Gay, 
“Your majesties, the Royal High Galosh-maker 
has arrived.” 

Show him in,” commanded the Prince. 

At these words, the galosh-maker entered the 
room bringing with him one very long box and 
one very short box. 

“Your majesties,” said the man, “I have finished 
your galoshes that were made to order. I hope 
they will please.” 


no 




PRINCE WEARY’S GALOSHES 


111 


The man took from the small box a pair of very 
nice galoshes and tried them over the princess’s 
shoes. They were a perfect fit, and would keep 
out snow very well indeed. 

“Now,” said the prince, “show me my galoshes.” 

“Your majesty,” said the man, opening the very 
long box, “I beg to be allowed to say that these are 
very foolish-looking galoshes, but I made them 
exactly to your orders.” 

“Silence,” the prince said very rudely. “Put 
them on.” 

The man put the galoshes over the prince’s 
shoes. They were twice as high as most galoshes, 
and the flaps on the sides were twice as wide as 
most flaps. And instead of four buckles on each 
galosh there were eight. 

“It will take you a long time to fasten so many 
buckles,” said the galosh-maker. 

“Stupid,” said the prince, “I am not going to 
fasten them. I told you to put on very large musi¬ 
cal buckles, because when I walk and the sides of 
the galoshes go flap, flap, I want the buckles to 
make a merry click, click.” 




112 


PRINCE WEARY’S GALOSHES 


“There is one thing more,” said the patient 
galosh-maker, “I made the bottoms very smooth 
instead of rough like most galoshes. This was 
according to your orders, too.” 

“Certainly,” replied the prince. “If they are 
smooth, the snow will not stick so badly to them. 
I can’t bother to wipe my galoshes on the royal 
door-mat every time I come into the palace.” 

When the galosh-maker was gone, Prince Weary 
and Princess Gay put on their wraps and left the 
palace. They crossed the draw-bridge and went 
on until they came to the coasting-hill where all 
the royal boys and girls from neighboring castles 
coasted in the late afternoons. 

“Come, everybody!” called one of the boys. 
And every one jumped onto the bob-sled—that is, 
every one except Prince Weary. He was last and 
just as he was about to get on, the flaps of his 
galoshes caught together and threw him forward. 
On down the hill the merry children coasted. It 
was a wonderful long, smooth, fast ride. And the 
prince went down the hill, too—only not on the 
bob-sled. He went down the steep, long hill, flat 









They were twice as high as most galoshes. 


113 


























































































































































114 


PRINCE WEARY’S GALOSHES 


on his royal chest, bumpity, bumping his princely 
chin. 

When he reached the bottom he got up and 
brushed the snow off, but when he tried he could 
not walk up the hill, because the bottoms of his 
galoshes were too smooth. The young princess 
tried to help him, but all in vain. 

There was only one thing the prince could do, 
he must go by a road that wound around the hill. 
This road was so long that when Prince Weary 
finally walked around to the place where his play¬ 
mates had started coasting, he found that all the 
children had gone home, for it was getting dark. 

So Prince Weary started home. It was quite 
dark when he came to the draw-bridge, and the 
guard called, “Hello! who comes here?” 

“It is I, Prince Weary,” answered the boy. 

And who comes with you,” asked the guard. 
I heard a click, clicking like the sound of fire¬ 
arms.” 

“That was nothing but my galosh-buckles click¬ 
ing.” 

“I cannot let you pass,” declared the guard. 





So the Pool■ Prince sat down on a 
cold wet stone and waited. 


115 








116 


PRINCE WEARY’S GALOSHES 


So the poor prince sat down on a cold, wet stone 
and waited. It grew darker and colder. Finally 
he saw a light coming. It came nearer and nearer. 
The prince grew so frightened that he screamed. 
Suddenly the light was thrust in his face, and the 
prince saw that it was a lantern that the Royal 
High Galosh-maker was carrying. 

“Oh, I’m so glad that we found you,” called 
Princess Gay. We have been looking everywhere 
for you, and when you screamed we knew your 
voice.” 

The Galosh-maker explained it all to the guard 
who ordered the draw-bridge let down. Then the 
Royal High Galosh-maker with Princess Gay, who 
had had a wonderful time coasting went with 
Prince Weary across the draw-bridge. 

“Please, sir,” said the prince very meekly to 
the Galosh-maker, “will you kindly make me an¬ 
other pair of galoshes?” 

“Certainly,” was the answer, “do you wish 
another pair like these?” 

The prince was very much ashamed. “Oh, no,” 
said he. “I don’t want them so high, nor the flaps 




PRINCE WEARY’S GALOSHES 


117 


so wide. I want only four buckles on each galosh. 
And I don’t care about the buckles being musical, 
for I want to keep them fastened. And please 
make them rough on the bottom so I can climb up 
hill. For never again will I dislike so much to 
wipe my galoshes on the royal door-mat.” 




THE SELFISH PRINCE 




Prince Albert would have been a charming little 
prince but for one thing. He was selfish. He 
had a pretty little sister, and if Prince Albert had 
been the prince he should have been, he would 
have treated her very kindly. But he never 
stopped to think how a prince or a true gentleman 
would share all things with a lovely princess, or 
a true little lady. He only knew that he wanted 
the best of everything for himself. So whenever 
a royal page brought cookies, or apples, or dainty 
tarts from out the royal kitchen, the prince divided 
them, but, always he gave the smaller share to the 
little princess. 

Now, when the king found this out, he was very 
much grieved. He said unless the prince changed 


118 


THE SELFISH PRINCE 


119 



He gave the smaller share to the Little Princess. 


he would never grow up to be the right kind of a 
king. So the selfish prince was sent to a foreign 
land far away from home. Over the sea in a royal 
ship he sailed, and finally landed on a strange sea 
coast, where a queer man waited for him. 

“Come with me,” said the man gruffly. 

The prince, who was very much surprised at 
being spoken to rudely, followed the man until 
they came to a strange looking house. 









120 


THE SELFISH PRINCE 


“I suppose you are hungry.” suggested the man 
as they entered the house. 

“Yes, I am nearly starved,” replied the prince. 
“Get me something to eat at once.” 

But the man only stared at the boy. 

The prince became very angry. “What is the 
matter with you?” he demanded. “Can’t you un¬ 
derstand what I say?” 

“Yes,” the man answered. “But I have lived in 
this land many years, and I have never been or¬ 
dered about in such a manner. I don’t see why 
you think you dare give me orders.” 

“Dare!” the prince repeated. “Why, am I not 
a prince?” 

“A prince?” asked the man. “You don’t look 
like a prince.” 

“Don’t look like one! Can’t you see my vel¬ 
vet suit and the plume in my hat?” shouted the 
angry prince. 

“Certainly,” the man said, “but clothes do not 
make you a prince. How do I know where you 
might have obtained them? You have not the 
face of a prince. A true prince would look kind 
and good and generous.” 




THE SELFISH PRINCE 


121 


After a while the man brought in some food. 
On the dish was one large and one small piece 
of cake. 

“Take the piece you wish,” directed the man. 

So the prince took the larger piece, for he had 
the habit of being greedy. Then the man brought 
forth cheese, and the prince took the larger piece. 
And when the man brought two glasses of milk, the 
prince took the larger glass. 

But when the prince tasted the first bit of cake 
he exclaimed, “Why, I cannot eat this, it is bitter! ” 

“There is no more cake,” said the strange man. 
“You will have to eat your cheese and drink the 
milk.” 

But the prince had no better fortune for these 
tasted even more bitter than the cake. 

“Well,” said the man, who ate and drank all of 
his small portion, “there is nothing more to eat. 
You must go to bed hungry. There are two beds, 
a small bed and a large bed. Which do you 
want?” 

“The large bed, of course,” replied the prince. 

But lo! the prince found the large bed was so 
hard he could not sleep. So he lay awake and 




122 


THE SELFISH PRINCE 


thought of his father, the great king, and of his 
mother, the lovely queen, and of his little sister 
whom he really loved. And he thought of the 
large man who had to sleep in a tiny bed. He 
knew too, that the man must be as hungry as he, 
himself. For although the man had eaten all of 
his food, it was a very small amount for so large a 
person. “Well,” said the prince to himself. “I 
won’t be greedy any more, for it doesn’t make me, 
nor the people about me, happy.” 

The next morning when the man brought cake 
and cheese and milk, the prince took the smaller 
portion. It tasted very sweet, for he was doing 
right. So both he and the man who had the larger 
share were satisfied. 

That night the prince chose the smaller bed, and 
found it was not hard, and so he slept well. 

The next morning the prince said, “Sir, I wish 
I might go home. I will try very hard to be kind 
and generous.” 

“Your masjesty,” replied the strange man, bow¬ 
ing low, “I shall obey your orders and make ready 
a ship, for I can now see that you are a prince, 
because today you have acted as a true prince 
should. 




GOLDEN BUTTERFLY 



Big Chief shook his head sadly as he watched 
his daughter playing among the rushes and the 
flowers, “The little girl is always flitting about,” 
he mutttered. “She thinks of nothing but her 
own pleasure, she is like the butterflies.” 

So always afterward the girl was called an 
Indian name which meant, Butterfly. 

All summer Butterfly wandered about the creek. 
She liked better than anything else in the world 
to watch the sunbeams on the rippling water, and 
to see the colored lights flash through the wings 


123 








124 


GOLDEN BUTTERFLY 


of the drag¬ 
on-flies hov- 
. ering above 
the stream. 

When fall 
came, she 
was still 
skip pin g 
about play¬ 
ing with the 
other but¬ 
terflies in 
the golden 
sunshine. 

“Come, ’ ’ 

called the other Indian children of the village 
to Butterfly. “Come with us to gather wild 
? ;'apes.” 

Chanting a strange Indian song, she followed 
j-hem. 

When they came to where the grape vines 
twined over the trees and the bushes, the boys and 
girls began to fill their baskets with the purple 
grapes. But Butterfly did not do this; she ga¬ 
thered them to eat. The other children ate some, 



But Butterfly, seeking only pleasure, still stayed and 
sivung among the grapes. 








GOLDEN BUTTERFLY 


125 


too. But when they found nice big bunches, they 
thought how pleased the squaw mother and the 
little children at home would be to have them; so 
they put the grapes in their baskets. 

When Butterfly had eaten all the grapes she 
wished, she discovered a wonderful swing formed 
of the twining grape vines. 

“Come, let’s swing,” she said to the other chil¬ 
dren. 

So every one took turns swinging in the vine 
swing. Soon th^ all went back to work. But¬ 
terfly, seeking only pleasure, swung higher and 
higher among the purple grapes. 

In the late afternooi# Butterfly tired^f this, 
and seeing some lovely moss, lay down on it to rest. 
She curled up and soon fell asleep. 

When the children were 'ready to go home 
they called to her and shook her. “Come,” t ^ J 
said, “it is late, we must go home.” 

“Go away and leave me alone,” said Butterfly. 
So they had to go home without her. 

And she, like all the pretty butterflies out-of- 
doors who had eaten much, and had played much, 
now slept much. 




126 


GOLDEN BUTTERFLY 


It was a voice asking, 
“Who! Who?” that awak¬ 
ened her. She rubbed her 
eyes and looked about her. 
It was dark in the wood¬ 
land. 

The Indian girl had 
known from the time that 
she was a very little girl 
that the one asking, 
“Who,” in the woodland 
at night, was the owl. But 
somehow it all seemed so 
different to-night. She 
picked up her Indian 
blanket from the ground, 
and put it around her. “I 
am Butterfly,” she called to 
thle voice asking, “Who.” 

Then there came another 
voice asking, “Where? 
Where?” Any other night 
Butterfly would have 
known that it was the 
wind. But somehow it all 
seemed so different now. 










GOLDEN BUTTERFLY 


127 


She thought the voice meant, where were the 
grapes she should have gathered. She drew her 
Indian blanket closer about her. “I ate them all,” 
she called into the dark. 

Now another voice was saying, “Hi-yi, hi-yi!” 
At any other time she would have known that it 
was only an Indian dog saying, “Hi-yi.” But now 
she thought the voice was talking about her swing¬ 
ing so high. As she thought of her baby sister at 
home who would have liked to have swung, too, 
she called into the night, “I will swing the papoose 
in the vine-swing tomorrow.” 

The Indian girl pulled her bright colored 
blanket very closely about her, and ran home as 
fast as she could; for, like the butterflies that fly 
about in the sunshine, she should be home at dark. 

One day Big Chief sat smoking his pipe, and 
with half shut eyes watched the girl. She was 
flitting here and there. Sometimes she was play¬ 
ing, but often she was doing something helpful 
for some one else. 

“Ugh!” grunted Big Chief to his daughter. 
“I named you Butterfly. Now you have learned 
to do golden deeds for others, I will call you 
Golden Butterfly.” 


Finis 




Rjjnaway Nanny 1 . 

AND OTHER 

DELIGHTFUL GTORJES 

BY 

CLARA d DRNTON 

author of “BURY LITTLE BIRRS' ” 
“HOIME-SPUN A TORIES ” ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED BY 

JOSEPH EUGENE DASH 

“A JUST RIGHT BOOK * 

PUBLISHED BT 

ALBERT WHITMAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO USA. 















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